Meadow Larks
by Nora Lou
Summary: Our take on the post finale events...other people have submitted some wonderful pieces, but we just wanted to jump into the mix!


**Meadow Larks**

By

Nora Lou Wilson

and

Rebecca S. Smithey

It was "their place" – a beautiful alpine meadow out near the trail to Twin Lakes. When Walt felt that he was – finally – ready and able to let his beloved Martha go, he knew that was the spot where he would scatter her ashes.

It seemed that every important event in their lives together was commemorated at Carter's Field. When he and Martha had gone out on their first "real" date, he had borrowed two horses from his father, asked his Mom to pack a lunch, then taken her to the meadow for a picnic. They had spent hours there, just talking and enjoying a beautiful summer day. At one point, they were warm, comfortable and well-fed. They napped together under a cottonwood at the edge of the meadow, her head on his shoulder. Remembering it now, Walt knew it was one of the best days of his life.

Riding toward the meadow, the tea box secured in his saddlebags, Walt was remembering all those times. He had asked Martha to marry him there…when she had found out that the Methodist minister could also sit a horse, she had insisted that they get married there…she told him that she was pregnant with Cady while sitting on his lap under the same cottonwood where they had napped…Cady's first trip "out" after her birth had been to the meadow, bundled onto a papoose board on Martha's back. She took her first steps there…Martha took her to the meadow for birthday outings…when she "ran away" the first time, he had found her there, asleep under an Indian blanket on the edge of the meadow…she was six at the time, and had made her way there all on her own. Frantic with worry, Walt and Martha didn't know whether to be angry at her or proud of her for her prowess. When Cady's first boyfriend had broken her heart, Cady had fled there to cry in private…he had told Martha that he was going to run for sheriff there…she had told him about that damned diagnosis at the meadow, trying to put a brave face on her fear. Immediately after her memorial service, Walt had escaped up there with a book of Shakespeare sonnets and five bottles of whiskey in his saddlebags. He had not come back until all the bottles were empty, and the well-wishers had long since given up looking for him…later on, whenever things got to be too tough for him, he would come up here and try to talk to her… he felt closer to her spirit here than anywhere else.

A few minutes later, his duty done and his eyes full of tears, Walt stood up and carefully brushed the last of the ashes from his hands into the wind. He promised Martha that he would bring Cady up here soon – not only to let her say goodbye on her own, but also to celebrate her legal victory for Henry. It was time their Meadow became a happy place again.

Later, Branch would think that maybe Walt really had rubbed off on him more than he'd realized. He had turned to watch the skeet target rising into the air, his father's words sinking in. Then, something…instinctual had made him turn back around. The whole thing had taken just a second or two, but it had been enough.

Time itself seemed to slow down. In shock, his brain registered the fact that his father…his own _**father**_ was about to shoot him…_Oh hell no, not again_…Moving on adrenaline alone, Branch swung his shotgun around and knocked his father's gun away. The shot went wild. He swung again and struck Barlow's face with the butt of the weapon. His father went down onto his side, stunned. Blood bloomed across Barlow's face from a broken nose.

Falling back on his training, Branch reached down, unbuckled his father's belt. Pulling it free, he used it to quickly secure Barlow's hands. Then he dragged Barlow…_funny…he wasn't thinking of him as his father anymore…just another suspect…_he dragged him to his feet and put him in the back seat of the Land Rover they had come out here in...

The party celebrating Henry's freedom seemed destined to go down as the event of the year. It had started in the late afternoon, continued through the dinner hour as people came and went, then raged on until the wee hours of the morning. Henry had returned from his solitary drive to raucous cheers, the victorious king returned to his castle. Even the ongoing repair to the Pony's front had not stopped anyone – they simply stepped around the construction debris and partied on. Henry's friends and extended family had not let him tend bar or cook, so he sat at a table in the middle of the dining room and let everyone cater to his every whim and desire.

Cady presided over the entire soiree with glee, flushed with the sudden windfall of success. If she drank a little too much, people understood. After all, it was her first big case, and her first big win. As the party had gotten started, she had asked her dad to drop by and take a bow of his own, but he had begged off and told her that he might come by later.

Walt had not told her that he had made a trip to scatter her Mom's ashes, or that he was determined to take his vengeance out on Nighthorse now that he knew the truth. Nothing was going to stop him. Nothing…until something did.


End file.
